Sunday, June 5, 2011

Governor Christie - I shouldn't have to learn about Joe's suicide note from the Nordstrom sales associate who sold me a Tory Burch handbag 16 months after Joe committed suicide!! Why did the Monmouth County Prosecutors office fail to use NJ's stalking law A1563?

The Monmouth County Prosecutors office is not upholding the laws of the state of NJ.

That law took effect March 21, 2009. That law was sponsored by over 40 of our Senate and Assemblymen and women and unanimously passed.

The legislation A1563 updated the current NJ stalking law to incorporate third party stalking. My decade long case of third party stalking that began on Christmas Eve in 1997 when someone using the voicechanger from the movie "Scream" called my home to recite dialogue from the movie was the impetus to update the stalking law. I was stalked to Disney World on my birthday and it was the voice from the movie "Scream" calling my hotel room to sing Happy Birthday to me. Under the current law written by Marlboro Sgt Yenisey and Manalapan Chief Brown based on my case, the criteria to launch an investigation into a stalking is course of conduct, pattern of behavior.

I have a letter from Michael Cunningham at the Monmouth County Prosecutors office dated May 14, 2009 that alerts me to the fact that the new stalking legislation that took effect in March 2009 based on my case of third party stalking is not retroactive. However, Mr Cunningham writes that should my case of third party stalking escalate, my new law will be used to help me.

My stalking escalated into a series of threats in August of 2009 that occurred 24 hours before and 48 hours after a family court hearing. In one of the voicemail threats, the third party stalker told me " I've got your cell phone number and that is not all I have - you are going to get yours". ID Discovery Channel used two of the actual messages in the documentary they filmed on my stalking entitled Stalked Someone's Watching Dangerous Games ( the show is available on itunes). I attached above the threatening phone call they did not use. The third party stalker was calling me and hanging up in June 2009, 4 hours before my flight departed Newark airport and 4 hours before my return flight was scheduled to take off. My itinerary was displayed on my American Express statement. The day after I began to receive threatening messages, a man on Elizabeth St in NYC began to use my credit card to order food and deliver it to his apartment.

In August of 2009 the Monmouth County Prosecutors office declined the case because I had not been physically harmed. Other than taking a police report, the Marlboro Police were prohibited from helping me. The new stalking law that was in effect when my stalking escalated did not require me to be a homicide victim or the victim of attempted murder. I reached out to Lynn Rosenthal at the White House Office on Violence Against Women and I drove a copy of the CD that contained the threats to FBI Agent Gallagher who deemed them credible threats.

Sandy Clark from the NJ Coalition for Battered Women phoned Deputy AG Kristianson who then reached out to AP Brennan to tell him that the AG's office wanted him to use my law to help me. In Sept of 2009 Brennan sent detectives into NYC to question the man using my Amex card to order food and deliver it to his apartment. The man in NYC who was subletting an apartment on Elizabeth St that was two doors down from the 5th precinct admitted to the crime however instead of calling for back up from the NYPD to make the arrest, the detectives turned around and went back to NJ .

In six weeks, FBI Agent RJ Gallagher and Marlboro Sgt Yenisey identified the third party stalker when he used his credit card to repurchase minutes to his throw away cell phone. Assistant US Attorney McKenna was in charge of my federal stalking case. The third party stalker admitted to stalking and threatening me and then he lawyered up. The stalker through his attorney was attempting to plead down to a lesser charge but the US Attorneys office was not permitting him to do so. To avoid facing federal prosecution, the third party stalker committed suicide on Jan 4, 2010.

On Jan 5, 2010 Governor Christie appointed Assistant US Attorney McKenna to the position of Director of Homeland Security. McKenna handed down my file to the Monmouth County Prosecutors office who informed me about Joe Pate being identified as the third party stalker and also informed me about identification of the man in NYC who was using my Amex card. I was told there would be an investigation into the suicide. Joe was a third party stalker yet somehow he knew every detail about me.

AP Brennan never answered any of my questions about the suicide. The MCPO waited 5 months to follow up on the man in NYC fraudulently using my Amex card and by that time according to NYPD Detective Oliver and Bureau Chief Salwen at the Manhattan DA's office the suspect had packed up his sublet and left NYC. Did the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office really think that this criminal was going sit in his apartment in NYC for five months and wait for them to return with handcuffs?

I never received a reply from AP Brennan about the questions I asked following Pate's suicide. However, I got answers from the Nordstrom sales associate who sold me a new Tory Burch handbag to take on vacation last month. This lovely young woman who patiently spent time finding the perfect handbag for me misspelled my name on the delivery tag. I asked her to correct the spelling of the name because I explained that I had a problem in the past with a stalker and when I check into the hotel I am going to change the name on the room and I did not want the item to get lost. The next sentence out of her mouth was "Joe Pate stalked you". When I asked her if she saw the ID Discovery Channel show, she told me that she was a member of the First Aid Squad who was the first responder to the suicide. I learned about the suicide note from the Nordstrom sales associate. I learned that this was not his first attempt at suicide. I learned that Joe was friends with a police officer and called the officer before he lit the fire that killed him. I should not have to learn specifics about a case where I was a crime victim from a sales associate at Nordstrom. I would expect that the people paid by my tax dollars to investigate and prosecute the crime would be the people who should have answered my questions that I posed 16 months ago in a series of emails.

I never got any answers from the Monmouth County Prosecutors office but in addition to a lovely new Tory Burch turnlock mini bag in chambray I got details about the case that I never knew but details I later confirmed to be correct with the police. I am shocked and dismayed that these were details that the Monmouth County Prosecutors office never bothered to look for and are only aware of thanks to me.

Governor Christie - you were the Governor in mid January 2010 when the Monmouth County Prosecutors Office was supposed to be investigating the suicide. You pulled Charlie McKenna off my case to go to work for the State of NJ and that move dumped my case into the inept and bungling hands of the Monmouth County Prosecutors office. It is time to fire up the State Helicopter and head on down to the Monmouth County Prosecutors office to begin teaching a course in CrimeFighting 101. You need to clean house. I suffered through the stalking for 13 years and I refuse to pay taxes towards the salaries of the "team" who bungled the investigation and prosecution of my crime of stalking.

1 comment:

I am stunned about how poorly the various law enforcement agencies and prosecutor's office treated, Katen, this victim of stalking. Joe Pate stalked this woman, a stranger to him, for twelve years. Now, law enforcement has refused to provide insight into Pate's motive? Shameful.

I don't know any of these people, or even live in New Jersey. To an outsider in a small town in Texas, however, this is simply appalling.

Monmouth County Prosecutors Office, and the various law enforcement officials should be ashamed.

Ms. Karen, there are women all over this country who saw your story on the ID network. Every one of us is amazed by your courage and resilience. You are an inspiration to any woman who has ever been stalked. Thank you for telling it.